For any evolutionist, debating with a creationist seems like nightmarish task. You can give hundreds of examples supporting evolution and smash every counter-attack a creationist can spit out, but it always seems to fall on deaf ears. In the end, the creationist is the one smiling. How could he think he won that argument? He didn’t have ONE good point. The next minute you see this creationist gloating to all his God-Fearing friends about his superior argument and how he ripped you apart. This will either leave you very frustrated or perhaps slightly amused.
If you just want to “win” the debate, the above approach is fine. You won’t convince a creationist of anything, but that doesn’t really matter. However, if you want to convince a creationist, you will need more than superior arguments. I should know, because I used to be that smiling creationist. When educating a creationist (or an ID supporter) about evolution, I found that following these 5 steps significantly increases your odds of reaching them.
| 1) | Do not try to convince a creationist that God doesn’t exist. If you try to argue against God’s existence, a creationist will most likely take it as a personal attack and dismiss everything you have to say. The reason why a creationist holds onto “creationism” is because he believes in God. If you decouple the idea of God’s existence and Creationism, you can then both compare Creationism and Evolution based only on merit. Creationists don’t usually think that believing in God and Evolution as an alternative. Once he realizes that God and Evolution are compatible with each other, he will have an easier time accepting evolution. However, unfortunately, most atheists believe this is a ridiculous idea. But for a moment put yourself in the creationist’s shoes. If all your knowledge and personal experience supports God’s existences, what are you going to think when someone tries to convince you otherwise? You would think he was out of his mind! What do you mean God doesn’t exist! I talked to him yesterday! The next thing you know the baby and bathwater are out the window. You wouldn’t believe in evolution solely on the fact that this “evolutionist” is trying to convince you that God doesn’t exist. |
| 2) | Fear mongering is a big thing you need to overcome when educating creationists. Creationists usually have a very low view of the scientific method and the scientific community. More often than not, creationists think that science is tool of Satan and somehow these “scientists” are in league with him. If they don’t believe that Satan is personally involved, they definitely believe that scientists are misrepresenting the evidence towards creationism. Usually you can overcome this hurdle by properly explaining the scientific method. A lot of times creationists don’t really understand the scientific method. This will give you the opportunity to dismiss any false notions a creationist might have. The big thing to point out is that in science all theories are equal. The only difference between a good theory and a bad one is evidence. The only reason why creationism isn’t scientifically accepted is because there is no compelling evidence supporting it. Everything in science, at the moment, points towards evolution. Even theist scientists are in agreement with this. However, if at some point we find that evolution is wrong, it would be replaced with a more complete theory. This is the power of science! |
| 3) | The next step is to give examples of theistic evolutionists. A creationist will be a lot more open to listen to the words of C.S. Lewis or Billy Graham as opposed to Darwin or Dawkins. |
| 4) | Once you get to this point, you can start bringing up the evidence that supports evolution. There is no shortage of information on the subject. Remember to bring up evidence ONLY for evolution and not atheism. You will have plenty of time to debate God’s existence afterwards. The goal of this conversation should be to educate him/her about evolution instead of trying to convert him to atheism. |
| 5) | The last step, and most important, is to give the creationist time to digest the information. He won’t change his viewpoints overnight. |
Comment by Amber
Made Sunday, 19 of August , 2007 at 3:42 pm
Very well said. That’s my man!